SG MESSENGER: 24th May 2019, No. 31 www.springgroveschool.co.uk

HAPPY HALF TERM

What a way to finish to finish our first half of term! We were on top of the world on Friday morning in beautiful weather walking for Dementia UK. By way of introduction, Year 1 led a delightful assembly with the theme of “We’re Going on a Crown Hunt” (a clever adaptation of the Michael Rosen Bear Hunt poem) before we embarked on our own expedition. It is fair to say that the summer walk has now become an important annual tradition. Walking and talking together is a terrific way to relax and get to know each other and to enjoy such a fine morning in the Kentish countryside is a privilege indeed. Children, older and younger mixed together, families brought their dogs, we laughed, we sang and told stories on the way. Having managed to amass our 200+ SG army on top of Wye Crown, we strode purposefully back to school for a delicious barbecue and the great Summer Fair which incorporated the extraordinary Octogenarian Olympics.

Mrs Jones and I have been moved by many experiments involving young children interacting with the elderly. Over the years we have seen, in particular, the massive mutual benefits when we take our pupils carol singing and our Prep 3 pupils to deliver harvest gifts to the elderly. More recently, inspired by examples broadcast on TV, Mrs Jones has coordinated our regular Reception class visits to Brambles. Friday’s community event was filled with laughter and enjoyment for all as our four House teams incorporated the intrepid octogenarians in a thrilling contest that was eventually won by Conrad House. Please see page 6 and visit our Facebook page to view photos.

The past week has also been filled with a visit to watch Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors” at Chilham Castle, an impressive Informal Concert, an Early Years Open Morning, Forest and Beach School excursions, a considerable number of school cricket matches and a form poetry recitation competition. Using the Circus theme, the classes presented a varied selection of comic and thoughtful poems. Prep 3 gave a highly disciplined and energetic performance of “Parallel” to win the Junior Competition; it was impossible to separate the brilliant performances by 4D (“Cloony the Clown”) and 4L (“The Lion Tamer”) and so both classes deservedly shared the senior title! Our summer concert audience will be able to enjoy the winning poems on Thursday, 13th June. WALK TO THE WYE CROWN

It was a beautiful day for a walk! Year 1 to Prep 6 did the full walk, while Reception joined us at the Crown and walked back to school. It was a fantastic effort from all the children not to mention the accompanying staff, parents and dogs! Here’s the picture story of our walk...

From Wye we walked through fields and woods up to the top of the hill. We stopped and had a break, then went to the Crown. We could see Spring Grove—it looked a long way away!

WE’RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT...

On Friday, while the rest of school were walking to the Wye Crown, the Teddies and Nursery children enjoyed their own walk around the school field. They listened to ‘We're Going on a Bear Hunt’ and then went searching around the field for the bears, stopping on the way to have a play on the wooden climbing frame. Everyone then enjoyed a delicious BBQ and ice cream before returning to the classrooms.

AND WE’RE GOING ON A CROWN HUNT...

Year 1 Assembly on Friday set the scene for the walk to the Wye Crown with their rendition of ‘We’re Going on a Crown Hunt...’.

COMEDY OF ERRORS

Shakespeare's Globe on Tour at Chilham Castle Thank you so much to Shakespeare's Globe for bringing Shakespeare's madcap comedy to Chilham Castle and for allowing our children to sit inches away from the slapstick, the drama and the kissing!! Friday afternoons are not always the best time for concentration but, my goodness, the audience loved this and Spring Grove School were at the forefront of the laughter. The director and the actors enjoyed the reception and several joined the children on stage afterwards for photos.

We were lucky to meet members of the cast who impressed us with their versatility and skill and inspired us to appreciate the beauty of Shakespeare's language. SG RECYCLING POINT

Thanks to Prep 5 parent, Sandra Laflin, and the team at COTY in Ashford, SG have received a donation of a large number of surplus plastic barrels. The barrels will be used to build the new SG Recycling Point (coming soon!), as storage and bins on Forest School and in the EYFS garden.

#ReduceReuseRecycle

ARTISTS OF THE WEEK

Artists of the Week this week are all of Year 1 for their wonderful sunflower collage, based on the work of Vincent van Gogh.

SUMMER FAIR & OCTOGENARIAN OLYMPICS

It was an action-packed afternoon as the children set up their stalls alogside the running track which was to be the venue for the Olympics. Twelve sprightly octogenarians had gamely signed up for the sporting events, and they were helped by Prep 6, working in House teams. The events included the ‘pole vault’, , modified ‘egg and spoon’ and a Finnish game called Möllky. There was a young visitors’ race for 70+ competitors, and the event was rounded off with a spectacular relay. Conrad house emerged victorious, and the medals were presented by Wendy White-Thompson, the driving force behind the event, and Demi Bevis-Roadnight from Dementia UK. Meanwhile, the children’s stalls were doing brisk business—including a nail bar, nerf gun range, living fruit machine, sweet stall and the ever-popular ‘sponge the teacher’. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this event such a success, to the PTA for refreshments, and let’s hope we’ve raised lots of money for Dementia UK!

DISPLAY OF THE WEEK

Display of the Week is Mrs Lord’s Living Lands display showcasing the Year 3 & 4 trip to the Living Land Show earlier in the term.

DOVER CASTLE

Prep 5 & 6 visited Dover Castle on Tuesday exploring the wartime tunnels which extend some 3.5 miles under the white cliffs. We learnt about the site of the castle, its history dating back to before Roman times, the extensive building work undertaken in the time of Henry II when a significant amount of the country’s entire income was spent on its improvements, and the Napoleonic tunnels built to see off the threat from across the channel! Perhaps its grandest contribution in recent history was its being at the centre of operations for the evacuations from Dunkirk in May/June 1940. Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay not only masterminded the miraculous rescue by sea, he also played a major role in the crucial organisation of the entire invasion fleet four years later, when the allied troops landed in Normandy. Relatively little is known about Admiral Ramsay as he was tragically killed just 4 months before the end of the war.

SPORT

U9 A & B Cricket v St Faith’s A team Match Reporter: Isobel J On Thursday 23 May, Spring Grove U9 set off to St Faith’s for an exciting match. We won the toss and decided to field first. St Faith’s were strong batters. We bowled them out three times, caught them out once and stumped them out twice. When they finished batting they had 224 runs. We had been doing brilliant fieklding but let’s say our batting was not good at all. Seriously it was awful! We were out quiet a few times. The final score was 222 to 224 to them. We had a lovely match tea of sandwiches and a biscuit. Bowler of ther match was Olivia and player of the match was Isla. Better luck next time SG! Thank you to Mrs Langford and Miss Drury for coaching us, and to Mr Curnow for getting an ice cream for all of us on the way back.

B team Match Reporter: Mary B On a sunny Thursday 23 May, Spring Grove U9 won the toss and batted first. Sophie and Scarlett were up first. The last two batters were Belle and Charlotte—they were very good and the final score was 247 to SG and 204 to St Faith’s. Bowlers of the match was Emilia, and batter of the match was Charlotte. A big thank you to Miss Drury and Mr Curnow especially for the ICE CREAMS!!!

U9 Cricket v Russell House Match Reporter: Daniel B On Thursday 23 May the U9s cricket team travelled to Russell House. The weather was nice and sunny, a perfect day for cricket. I was first to bat with Rafa—we got a lot of runs—well if we didn’t get that many don’t blame me because Mr Smith didn’t give me the scores… Ah well, these things happen! Let’s just say we got quite a few runs and the final score was 263 runs to RH and 292 to SG. We won—happy days! Thanks to Mr Smith for coaching and driving us and hopefully we can go in the new bus or one that has a working radio next time!

B team Match reporter: Ferdie C We started with some good then it was our turn to start batting. William did some brilliant batting then it was the end of the match. The final score was 441 to 447 to Russell House. Thank you to Mr Smith for driving us and to Mr Alan for coaching us.

U11 Cricket v Ashford Match Reporter: Evie L On Wednesday 22 May we went to Ashford. We won the toss and fielded first—the fina score was 249. Then we batted. Final score was 249—251 to SG. Woman of the match was Lily-Mai. Thank you to Miss Drury for coaching us and well done SG!

Match Reporter: Angel N When the match started we batted first. The runs rolled in and the score went up—at the end it was 360. When we bowled Ashford did some cheeky bats going in the opposite direction. The end score was 317 to Ashford and 360 to us. Well done SG— we all played very well!

U11 Cricket v Lorenden Match Reporters: Lexi H-S and Eleanor M On Wednesday this week SG played a game of kwik cricket against Lorenden. It was perfect cricket weather. Everyonebattled and bowled well with Evie D being Lady of the Match. We learned to listen to each other and communicate. We won with the final score being 263-215.

U11 Cricket v King’s Rochester A team Match Reporter: William L King’s Rochester won the toss and chose to field. Josh and Svamin opened the batting with 12 runs altogether. SG scored a total of 76 runs with Thomas E hitting 29. Unfortunately I messed up the batting with my pads on the wrong way round! Svamin opened the bowling with 1 run from the over. Emmy got 4 quick wickets in less than 5 overs. Thomas also got 2 wickets with amazing . But sadly their batting was too strong and they won the match. Well tried SG.

B team Match Reporter: Oliver B King’s Rochester won the toss and the game began. We batted first and got a reasonable score of 252 but sadly King’s Rochester got 267. Men of the match were Alex, Roan and Dennis. Better luck next time SG! SENIOR INFORMAL CONCERT (YEARS 4-6)

Musicians from the top end of the school had the opportunity to show their talent in the Senior Informal Concert held this week.

DRIVING AND PARKING IN SCHOOL

A reminder that parking outside Teddies is for Nursery and Teddies parents only.

Please remember when driving through school that the speed limit is 5mph.

Please don’t speed through school.

SPRING GROVE SUMMER BALL PTA NEWS BROCHURE ADVERTISING

Advertising in the Summer Ball brochure is ADVERTISE IN THE MESSENGER available - rates as follows:

If you would like to place an advert in the Messenger, please email [email protected] for costs and terms & Quarter page - £25 conditions. Half Page - £50 Full page - £100 DATE FOR YOUR DIARY Inside cover - £125

Next meeting: Tuesday 25 June, 8.45am Please contact Mrs Read in the School Office

PTA GENERAL MEETING Class Reps:

The SG PTA met on 2 May. Please > click here to view Teddies - Mrs Miller-Jones the full minutes of this meeting. Nursery - Mrs Miller-Jones This year’s committee and class reps are: Reception- Mrs Savory & Mrs Garland Year 1 - Mrs Miller-Jones Committee: Year 2 - Mrs Battershill and Mrs Newman Chair - Mrs Boyd ([email protected]) Prep 3 - Mrs Savory and Mrs Clarke Secretary - Mr Lutz ([email protected]) Prep 4 - Mrs Borg Treasurer - Mrs Jones ([email protected]) Prep 5 - Mrs Doswell 2nd Hand Uniform - Mrs Rimmer Prep 6 - Dr Taylor & Ms Herrmannsen Smith Summer Ball - Mrs Rimmer, Mrs Courtenay-Snipp, Mrs Borg, Mrs Reilly, Mrs Makin

Thank you to the PTA for providing refreshments and ice creams at the Summer Fair and Octogenarian Olympics last Friday.

Office Space Available

 Flexible serviced office space in Wye village.

 2 first floor offices to rent on flexible terms, either daily/monthly basis

 Cost £200 per month per office/£25 per day/£10 per hour

Please contact Malcolm Vint for more details on 01233 812606 DIARY Sunday 2 June – Saturday 8 June CONGRATULATIONS

Sunday 2 Prep 5 to Chateau de la Baudonniere June Prep 6 to Croft Farm, Tewkesbury Headmaster’s Stars Austen: Teddy D, Bavishna P, Mary B, Sophia B Tuesday 4 Years 1 & 2 to Howletts Chaucer: Alfie A, Charlie Y, Phoebe B, Noah R-C June Guardians of the Deep—Prep 3 Conrad: Evie L, Edward C-S Dickens: Scarlett -W J, Olivia D-M, Osten F-P, Celina D- Thursday 6 U9 A&B Girls’ A&B Cricket v Lorenden (A) R June Silver awards: Sophia B and Alfie A Friday 7 Prep 3 Assembly June Forest/Beach School (Reception)

Saturday 8 Prep 5 return from Chateau de la June Baudonniere Prep 6 return from Croft Farm, Tewkesbury

Lost Property HAPPY BIRTHDAY… Rory B - School Coat Mehetabel M - Navy Fleece and Sea Conch William R - Wellies Mrs Newman, Isabella MJ Felipe T - Blazer Roan E - Named Games top Alice Potter - PE Top

Jelly the Giraffe

Congratulations to Chaucer House for winning Jelly.

1. Chaucer (539) 2. Austen (465) 3. Conrad (463) 4. Dickens (460)